


The Crimson Rose

by Okamitaretsu



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Vigilante AU, superhero au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-05-06 17:25:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5425535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okamitaretsu/pseuds/Okamitaretsu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Don't worry! I took down those two baddies- er, thugs so now I just have to take you somewhere safe. A-And um... Oh! I'm the Crimson Rose! Your resident, friendly neighborhood- wait... I think I got that wrong..." "...You've got to be kidding me." Superhero Ruby AU. White Rose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“....You’ve  _got_ to be kidding me.”

Those were not the first words Ruby had expected to hear from the girl she had just saved... but no matter! The girl must have still been in shock from the attempted kidnapping. After Ruby had stepped in - quite heroically if she might add- and stopped those two thugs, she had quickly carried her to safety. 

Speaking of which... the girl was now glaring a hole through her head. While still being cradled in her arms. 

Ruby flinched. 

How did superheroes make saving people look easy? She hadn’t realized her social awkwardness would also extend through her vigilante activities. 

 “Don’t worry! I took down those two baddies- er, thugs so now I just have to take you somewhere safe. A-And um... Oh! I’m the Crimson Rose! Your resident, friendly neighborhood- wait... I think I got that wrong...” Ruby suddenly stopped running, the dark alley they were in barely having enough light to show the embarrassed look on her face.

“Let me try that again,” she muttered before clearing her throat. “I’m the Crimson Rose, your friendly neighborhood... Rose vigilante!”

The girl crossed her arms. Ruby could barely see the arched eyebrow and nonplussed expression. “Seriously?”

Ruby shrugged, the red cloak shifting atop her shoulders. “It’s a work in progress,” she admitted. That would be the last time she asked Yang for help on her superhero lines. While the red cloak and mask her sister had made were really cool, the blonde’s lines were a bit too... cheesy. And that was saying something, coming from  _her_.

“Right. Well then,” The girl, whose face was starting to look somewhat familiar to Ruby despite the lack of light, gestured to the area they were in with a slender hand. “Do you have any idea where you’re going, or am I going to be hauled around the backwater allies of downtown Vale like some form of luggage?”

Ruby blinked.

The crimson wearing superhero looked around. The dark brick walls of the alley were completely unfamiliar. It seemed that when she had carried the girl off to lose any would be pursuers... well..

She might have gotten lost herself. 

“...Uhh...”

"Of course.” The girl sighed before gently tugging on Ruby’s hood. “Well? Are you going to let me down now, or are you going to get us further lost?”

Ruby flushed, having not expected the tug on her hood. “R-Right,” she carefully released her protective hold on the girl, shifting awkwardly. What was the proper amount of time you’re allowed to carry the person you’re rescuing, anyways? 

“Sorry about that, miss...?” She was just full of mistakes tonight. She hadn’t even asked the girl’s name until now. Although her voice did sound pretty familiar... and there was something about her hair...? The lack of light made it look like the girl had gray hair.

The girl stared at her. Ruby squirmed. Somehow, she could just tell her question had somewhat annoyed her. The crimson vigilante swore she heard the girl mutter something like ‘dunce’ under her breath.

“Weiss. My name is Weiss Schnee.” She finally responded.

Oh. 

Weiss.

Ruby blinked. 

That made sense.

No wonder she sounded so familiar. It was her science lab partner-

“Ahh?!” Ruby cried out, eyes widening comically.

The girl she had just rescued was Weiss?! Richer-than-thou, you-better-not-blow-us-up-again-Ruby-Rose, if-you-get-cookie-crumbs-on-me-one-more-time-you-dunce-I-swear-I’ll- Weiss Schnee?! The girl she sort-of-maybe-really had a huge crush on?! _That_ Weiss Schnee?

Ruby gaped at Weiss as she tried to process the situation. She couldn’t let Weiss know her true identity! Did the heiress already figure it out? Or did her hood and mask do an alright job of keeping her secret?

Weiss raised an eyebrow. “Ah?”

Ruby wondered if Weiss could hear her heart beating rapidly as it tried to slam out of her chest.

“A-Ah! A-As in... you’re the h-heiress! To the SDC Corporations,” Ruby said, her voice squeaking before lowering into something deeper than her usual voice. 

Would it be suspicious? Probably. But she couldn’t let Weiss know she was the Crimson Rose! Didn’t one of those superhero guys that Yang had showed her a few nights ago lower his voice into something really gruff sounding? Granted, she couldn’t understand a single word he said... but it worked for him in the movie! Hopefully it’d work for her? 

“I’m just surprised I rescued someone so... famous..?” She tried to cover up for her previous shout of shock. Her throat itched. This technique felt pretty dumb.

“I see...,” Weiss eyed her for a moment, probably thinking the worst about Ruby and how weird she looked and  _sounded_  and maybe she should really just give up on this whole vigilante gig and make a living by selling somewhat questionable machine parts and save up enough bail money for Yang in the future and-

A bright light shined through the opening of the alley, momentarily blinding them both.

Ruby blinked away the dark spots from her vision, her thoughts suddenly clearing and her body tensing, preparing for a fight if the thugs had come back.

“It seems my ride is finally here.” Weiss said, Ruby finally spotting the white limousine with the Schnee Dust Company logo on its side.

Ruby tilted her head, relaxing somewhat now that she knew the new arrival wasn’t an enemy. “How did they..?” She hadn’t seen Weiss pick up her phone to call them at all, so how would they know where to find them?

“GPS tracker. It’s pretty convenient when you have as many kidnapping attempts as me,” Weiss responded dryly.

“Ah.” That made sense. 

Wait... 

How often were these attempts?!

“Miss Schnee!” An elderly man’s voice cried out. Suddenly he stepped out of the limo and pulled out a gun, pointing it at Ruby with unsteady hands. “Miss Schnee are you alright? Did that strange person kidnap you?” His eyes squinted, as if trying to see the crimson vigilante better. “You dare lay a hand on our most precious heiress, fiend?!” The gun in his hands shook unsteadily.

“A-Ah! Wait wait wait-” Ruby cried out, eyes wide at the shaking gun now trained at her. She waved her hands madly in front of her to try and somehow not get gunned down by Weiss’ old, senile driver. “You’ve got it all wrong! I-”

“She saved me from those who tried, so you can put the gun down, Fredrick.” Weiss interrupted, stepping in front of her calmly while offering the older man a soft smile. “Thank you for getting here so fast. Remind me to never shop in that awful outlet again. Their clothing selection was positively atrocious.”

Ruby practically slumped into Weiss’ back from relief as Fredrick lowered his gun. So she wouldn’t be shot down by the elderly tonight. She could still count this night as a win, then.

Fredrick smiled widely. “I’m truly glad you’re safe, Miss Schnee. And thank you for saving our precious heiress, young lady.” He bowed at Ruby before stashing the gun back in the limo. “Oh dear,” he murmured, squinting at his watch soon after. “It seems your singing recital will be held soon. It would be best to leave now in order to make it on time, Miss Schnee.” He moved to the side of the limo and held the door open for her.

“Oh. I almost forgot about that,” Weiss sighed before turning around to face the crimson cloaked girl. “Now then.”

Ruby blinked, her posture straightening under Weiss’ stern look. “Y-Yes?”

“You need to work on your lines and delivery. Not to mention getting lost while carrying the person you’re rescuing.”

Ruby’s shoulder slumped. Ah. This was familiar too. She felt as if she were back in their science lab, the heiress correcting her on her less than adequate performance.

“I also don’t see any type of material that can stop a bullet, so unless you’re immune to bullets-”

“I’m actually really really fast and-”

“- _unless_ you’re immune to bullets, which I’m sure you’re not, you better find a bullet proof vest. And also have some form of medic or doctor close at hand.”

“...W-Well my friend is pretty good at wrapping bandages and uh-”

“Since you  _clearly_  haven’t thought this through, I’ll make sure to set you up with at least that-”

“You… you really don’t have to do that-”

A sharp glare silenced her weak protests.

“If you’re going to be doing this... ‘vigilante’ business, then you need to do it properly and safely. Am I understood?” Weiss crossed her arms, looking at Ruby pointedly.

Ruby weakly nodded, ducking under her hood as if to protect herself. “Yes ma’am.”

“Drop the ma’am.”

“O-Okay, Weiss.”

Weiss looked at her as they stood in silence, the vigilante shifting nervously.

“...Honestly,” Weiss murmured under her breath before reaching out to gently tug down on Ruby’s hood for a second time that night. “Thanks for saving me, you dunce. Now go get home and rest before you carry off some other poor girl through Vale’s shadier districts. As far as first dates go, you certainly could have done better.” 

Weiss turned and began to walk towards her limo, an amused smile on her lips as she heard Ruby’s flustered sputtering behind her. 

“Oh, before I forget,” She neared the limo, almost inside as Fredrick held the door open for her. “Don’t forget to start on that essay that’s due on Wednesday. I refuse to get a bad grade just because of your vigilante work, Ruby Rose.”

“What? But that’s like five days from now, Weiss!” Ruby whined, her cheeks still red from the heiress’ earlier words. 

“No excuses, Rose.” Weiss called out before the door shut close and the limo drove away.

Ruby groaned and tugged down on her hood, pouting as she moodily kicked the ground. “It’s a simple partner essay! Why does she have to always be so intent on getting the highest grade in class, anyways? Especially now that she knows I-”

Ruby stopped.

A stray cat nearby pawed at a torn trash bag, mewing happily when it found some left over pizza rolls.

As it moved to feast on the offerings, a sharp cry that came from the nearby alley spooked it off.

“She knew? She  _knew_?! How did she know it was me?!”

A moment of silence.

“….Yang’s going to kill me.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang suddenly grabbed Ruby by the shoulders, eyes completely serious. “We’re leaving the country. Go pack your bags.”
> 
> Ruby gaped at her.

 

“Okay. I can do this,” Ruby took in a deep breath to steady herself. “I can _do_ this.” She stood in front of her apartment’s door, her gloved hand hovering over the doorknob with trepidation.

Ruby’s hand refused to move.

“Come on… just… reach for it! You took down _two_ baddies today and rescued your crush. You’re braver than this!” Ruby valiantly tried to reassure herself.

Her hand refused to budge.

She was way past the curfew Yang had placed on her for her vigilante activities. After having panicked in some dark, sketchy alleyway over the fact that Weiss knew her identity, Ruby had realized she still had absolutely _no idea_ where she was. By the time she had found a familiar street, it had already been too late.

 _She_ was too late.

And now she had to explain to Yang why that was.

…And also kind of mention that Weiss Schnee already sort of _maybe_ knew her identity and it hadn’t even been a full week since she started this whole superhero gig... thing.

Ruby buried her face in her hands, shoulders slumping in defeat. “…The movies lied to me.”

Most superheroes seemed to have their romance interest find out about their identity way later into the movie or not at all.

Weiss Schnee had quite graciously crushed that mold underneath her ridiculously expensive high heels.

…Not that Ruby was implying that Weiss was her love interest, or anything silly like that! Because boy… wouldn’t _that_ be cliché?

Although… Ruby _did_ sort of rescue Weiss from some baddies and had even carried her off to safety… and then Weiss knew it was her despite the mask and hood… and Ruby couldn’t possibly avoid her because they shared the same class…

Ruby wondered if her life was now destined to become one of those clichéd rom-coms Yang loved so much.

Lost in her musings, she didn’t notice the door ominously creaking open.

She also didn’t notice the hand that reached out for her until it tugged on her cloak, a squawk of surprise leaving her lips as she was pulled into the apartment.

The door slammed shut behind her.

Ruby peeked under her hood at the tall figure in front of her. “…H-Hiya, Yang… Sorry I’m a… little late.” She smiled nervously.

Yang Xiao Long stood before her in a tank top and shorts, arms crossed and expression stern. Ruby could also see the worry in her older sister’s eyes.

“A little? You’re two hours late, Ruby.” Yang said, concerned eyes looking over Ruby as if to make sure her younger sister wasn’t hurt during her outing. Luckily, Ruby seemed perfectly fine.

Ruby winced. “I know… but I have a really good reason for that!”

“You better, sis.” Yang suddenly moved forward to wrap Ruby in a tight embrace, her body tense from the immense amount of worry and stress she had been in. “Because I’ve been waiting up worried sick about what could have happened to you and how I wouldn’t have been t-there to… to-” Yang stopped when her voice threatened to break. The blonde’s shaking lessened as comforting arms wrapped around her, gloved hands gently running through her hair to calm her down.

“I’m sorry, Yang. I’m alright now so you don’t have to worry anymore, okay?” Ruby reassured her sister with a sad smile, guilt eating away at her heart. She hadn’t meant to worry Yang like this. Sometimes, the whole superhero thing really wasn’t so glamorous.

“Right.” Yang cleared her throat once she managed to calm down, pulling back from the redhead’s embrace to give her a stern look. The obvious relief in her eyes lessened the blow, however. “Now, tell me why I shouldn’t ground you from your vigilante rounds for coming home at 3 in the morning, Ruby. And it better not be something like some old lady needing help with her groceries again! Especially at this hour.”

“That was one time! There’s nothing wrong with helping little old ladies, Yang!”

“She took you into her home and made you paint her living room!”

“She wouldn’t have been able to paint it by herself, and really? She was like, eighty-something! You’d really think she could hurt me?” Ruby gave Yang an incredulous look.

“I don’t know, Rubes! Maybe she’s like, one of those villains that acts all feeble and weak and lures the kindhearted superheroes in with promises of cookies!”

 “She didn’t lure me in, I wanted to help!” Ruby argued, indignant.

Yang eyed Ruby, her lips twitching into a grin.

“So you’re telling me the cookies didn’t really sweeten the deal for you?”

The redhead faltered.

“…Well… I’m not saying _that_ but-“

“See? She lured you! Is that why you’re late again?”

Ruby groaned and ran a hand down her face. She was tired and this was getting them nowhere.

 “Yes Yang. I was doing my rounds and saw an old lady struggling with her groceries at _one a.m._ in the _morning_ and decided to help her. _That’s_ why I’m late.”

Yang raised an eyebrow.

“Did you really-”

“Of course not!” Ruby cried out, looking at her older sister with disbelief. “Towards the end of my rounds I saw Weiss - who I didn’t know was Weiss at that time, by the way- being cornered by these two baddies near the back of some shopping district. They were saying something about kidnapping her for a ransom but she just smacked one right across the face with her shopping bag like it was nothing and then the other pulled out a _knife_ and when I saw that I just sort of reacted and ran him into the wall you know? I was so angry! After that, everything was kind of a blur of me knocking them out and picking up Weiss and running away just in case more came after her. But then I got lost and I botched up the intro we practiced and then her old, senile butler… driver dude found her through GPS because apparently she gets kidnapping attempts a lot? That’s not good, Yang! I really feel I should talk to her about that next time I see her… but yeah after the old driver guy stopped pointing his gun at me, turns out he’s a pretty cool guy. But then Weiss was all like,” Ruby stopped to take in a huge breath after her long winded response before imitating Weiss in her best heiress accent.

“’Dolt, you better have started Professor Peach’s partner essay even though it’s due in five days.’ And I was like, ‘Whaaat? But we’ve got plenty of time!’ and of course she responded with a, ‘I won’t get a bad grade because of your vigilante activities, Ruby Rose’ because that’s such a Weiss Schnee way of responding, isn’t it? But then she left and then I kinda freaked out because she _knew who I was_ and then I freaked out some more because I was still lost and it took me an embarrassingly long time to find my way back home...” Ruby trailed off, chest heaving for air. She looked up to see her sister’s reaction.

Yang stared at her.

“…So yeah, that’s kind of why I’m late…” Ruby chuckled nervously and rocked back and forth on the heel of her combat boots, anxiously waiting for Yang’s response.

Yang just continued to stare at her in silence, lips parted in shock.

“Y-You know… it’s actually scarier if you don’t respond-”

“IT HASN’T EVEN BEEN _ONE WEEK_ , RUBY!”

Yang’s yell must have woken the neighbor’s small Chihuahua because sure enough, the satanic little thing began to howl and bark shrilly, probably waking the rest of their flat mates if Yang’s yell hadn’t already. Not like Yang cared right now. She had much more important matters to attend to. Like figuring out how to give Ruby a new identity and pull her out of Beacon High undetected, away from the obviously scheming heiress who would no doubt put Ruby under some microscope and-

“I-I know-”

“HOW DID SHE EVEN FIND OUT?!”

They’d have to go completely dark. They’d change their names. Of course Yang wouldn’t leave her sister to fend for herself while on the run.

“I don’t know! I even used the voice thing, Yang!”

“AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN HER DRIVER HAD YOU AT GUN POINT?”

Weiss probably had people that were specialized in finding people. They wouldn’t be able to go talk to their friends and family anymore. They’d leave a goodbye letter to their father and Uncle Qrow.

“Well it was more like shakily aiming it in my general direction really… but like I said, he was pretty nice when he wasn’t pointing it at me!”

Yang suddenly grabbed Ruby by the shoulders, eyes completely serious. “We’re leaving the country. Go pack your bags.”

Ruby gaped at her.

“What? No way! We can’t just leave Vale because Weiss knows about me. I’m sure if we talk to her-”

“It’s either leave the country or kidnap the ice princess, Rubes!”

“We’re _not_ kidnapping Weiss! I literally just saved her from two wannabe kidnappers, Yang!” Ruby cried out.

“Do you want to be put under some microscope while people poke at you to figure out how you tick? Is that what you want, Ruby?” Yang crossed her arms and glared. “Because I sure as hell don’t! Are you sure she won’t sell you out to her company’s scientists or something?”

Ruby hesitated.

“…She wouldn’t do that, Yang. She’s not that type of person, no matter what you may seem to think. In fact, she actually seemed really calm about the whole thing.” Ruby muttered, now thinking back to how easily Weiss had seemed to accept Ruby’s condition. And it’s not as if the girl hadn’t seen her move. Ruby had shown Weiss exactly how fast she was when she had slammed into the guy to keep him away from the heiress. Weird…

“Anyways,” Ruby’s look firmed, deciding on what she had to do. “We won’t be leaving Vale. I’ll make sure to talk to her and see where we stand in the situation. And maybe she won’t even say anything about my powers, Yang. I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Ruby paused. “…probably.”

Yang looked at Ruby before sighing, knowing the girl was in one of her rare cannot-be-moved moments.

“Fine. But if that doesn’t work out, we’re doing it my way, alright?”

“We are not kidnapping Weiss, Yang.”

“I’m talking about fleeing the country party, not the kidnapping. Besides,” Yang grimaced. “Now that I think about it, she’d probably blow my eardrums with her ‘Yang Xiao Long you brute! Unhand me!’ screeching.”

“…To be fair, it’d be in her right to do that. Since we’d be kidnapping her and all.”

“Right!” Yang’s hand clapped together. “It’s pretty late… or really early? So we should probably head off to bed.”

“Bed sounds awesome right about now.” Ruby agreed, heading into her room while unclasping her cloak and removing her red facemask. At least today was Saturday and she could sleep in. She’d deal with the whole mess she had gotten into on Monday when she’d have Weiss in class.

She started to remove the dark long-sleeved corset she wore for her outings, the black tank top she wore underneath keeping her modesty as Yang peeked into her room suddenly. “By the way, sis, I have a quick question.”

“What is it?” She asked curiously, unbuttoning the comfortable pants she wore and kicking off her heavy combat boots.

“You said you carried Weiss away from those two dudes, right?” Yang smirked, having been too worried and then too panicked to tease her younger sister earlier with this fact. “You made sure to keep your hands to yourself, yeah? No… how would Weiss say it, ‘uncouth behavior’ right?”

Ruby paused, her eyes wide and her cheeks rapidly reddening. Her hands stilled on her pants.

“W-What? Of course not! I wouldn’t do that, Yang! And I mean, sure she was wearing a skirt so I may have touched her bare thighs but-” Ruby stopped when she realized what she had said.

With all that had happened, she hadn’t stopped to think about the fact that she had carried Weiss Schnee. In doing so, she had actually _touched_ Weiss thighs for an arguably long time.

Weiss. The girl she had a crush on.

Ruby’s face heated up unbearably, representing her namesake remarkably well as she threw herself under her covers, her pillow clutched over her head.

Yang’s laughter didn’t make it any easier to calm down. “That’s all I needed to know. Sweet dreams, Ruby!” She gleefully called out before heading into her own room.

“Yang!” Ruby cried out, catching the obvious meaning behind her sister’s well wishes. Yang’s laughter was her only response.

Ruby’s heart beat rapidly inside her chest, the blood in her face refusing to recede. She gripped her pillow tighter. How would she be able to look Weiss in the eye now? Heck, forget the heiress knowing about her powers. She could – sort of – deal with that. But… this?!

The crimson haired vigilante groaned pathetically, wondering if it was possible for the ground to rise up and just swallow her whole.

One thing was for sure. It would be hard to find sleep tonight.

The neighbor’s Chihuahua began to bark once more. Two cats hissed and yowled somewhere in the floor above her.

Yeah. She wouldn’t be getting much sleep after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Monday mornings were the worst. The absolute worst.

Having had little sleep during the weekend due to her constant thoughts on a certain heiress and her late night activities, Ruby Rose had finally joined the ever growing mass of people who dreaded Monday mornings.

Ironically, she had been quite the morning person prior to all of this.

Ruby slumped forward in her chair as a steady stream of students chattered loudly while walking into Professor Peach’s first period Chemistry class, silver eyes drowsy with sleep. Maybe Yang was right when she said going out every night wasn’t the best idea. It was of no surprise that the redhead still wasn’t used to the late nights and early mornings her new schedule demanded. Other than Weiss’ thug problem, she hadn’t really encountered any baddies during her late night runs as a new superhero. There were an alarmingly large amount of stray cats stuck atop trees and little old ladies that needed help, however.

Ruby frowned, not knowing how to feel about that.

She liked helping those stray kittens and the elderly, but…did that mean she wasn’t looking in the right spots for crime? A superhero had to stop bad people from doing bad things, after all. That and keep their identities a secret… which she had already failed at.

Yeah. She was still patting herself on the back for that one.

Ruby needed to talk to Weiss about what had happened on Friday night as soon as possible. How she’d do that in a room filled with thirty students or so… the redhead didn’t know. Maybe she should invite Weiss over to her home? Would the heiress even agree to talk to her after what had happened? It wasn’t as if Weiss had reacted badly, from what she had gathered. If anything, Ruby thought she looked more irritated at having had her evening ruined by wannabe kidnappers than having been carried through Vale by her dorky cloak wearing lab partner.

Not that her costume was dorky, or anything… she wore a cloak and a mask! That was the epitome of a cool superhero!

…but maybe Weiss didn’t think so?

Oh god, what if she had seemed even more like a dork than usual, even by her standards? What if the heiress decided she wasn’t worth her time and decided to ignore Ruby for the rest of the school year? What if Weiss hated her for… for acting ‘uncouth’ and – _accidentally_ – touching her thighs?

A voice in the back of her mind sounded quite bewildered as it questioned her priorities for being far more afraid of the pale heiress hating her rather than fearing for her identity’s secret.

Clearly, Ruby reasoned, the voice didn’t understand the _paramount_ weight of having one’s crushing hating them, so the voice should kindly buzz off and let her panic in peace.

Right.

Back to panicking about Weiss.

Maybe she should just flee the country like Yang suggested? She could still help people in different ways... she didn’t necessarily _have_ to be a superhero to do that.

Ruby groaned before burrowing her head in her arms, shoulders slumping. “I could always try opening my own delivery gig. Ruby Rose’s delivery service, fastest delivery guaranteed,” she muttered to herself.

“In that case, you can perform your first delivery by handing me the rough draft of the paper we agreed upon.” A voice beside her suddenly said, jolting Ruby from her slouched position on her desk.

Ruby turned in her seat to face Weiss who was now settling into the seat beside her. Like usual, the girl made sitting down and taking out her books look elegant and proper. Which Ruby thought was totally unfair. Not only did the heiress look like a princess, but she had to move like one too? The part of Ruby that had adored fairytales and fantasy books since she was a child couldn’t help but be enchanted as she stared, wondering not for the first time how someone could be so… well, pretty.

…she probably had a dumb look on her face, didn’t she?

Weiss raised an eyebrow at her silent staring, most likely waiting for her response. 

“…r-right!” Ruby quickly reached for her book bag, trying to ignore the heat she felt in her cheeks. She dug around the mess of school supplies for the binder she kept for this class. Somehow, she had a feeling Weiss wouldn’t appreciate a crumbled piece of paper with hot chocolate stains on it for a report even if it was a rough draft.

Not that _all_ of her papers had hot chocolate stains on them. Just… some. Yang’s special cinnamon hot chocolate was really hard to refuse, after all.

The redhead pulled out the rough draft she had written sometime during the weekend. Definitely not her best work, but considering the events she had gone through, Ruby believed she could cut herself some slack. That, and at this point, all she cared about was making sure Weiss didn’t think she was a lab experiment gone wrong and maybe sleep in for a day or two.

“Uh, there might be some mistakes, but here you go…” She turned to offer it to Weiss and trailed of when she noticed the pale haired girl looking at her intently with sharp blue eyes that trailed over her form, not unlike how Yang had done when Ruby had finally returned home that night.

Ruby blinked.

Was Weiss… checking on her to see if she was injured…?

Ruby didn’t get to ponder more on that thought as the heiress nodded to herself, seemingly satisfied with what she saw before reaching out to take the papers from Ruby’s hands, slender fingertips brushing against her own.

And.

Well.

…it was _really_ hard to concentrate on any form of thought after that.

“Well, you certainly did deliver.” Weiss said as she read over the rough draft all the while Ruby tried to somehow get her brain to function.

“Y-Yeah. That’s… Ruby Rose’s delivery service for you. Fastest delivery guaranteed!” The redhead blurted out, not knowing how else to respond. She had honestly expected Weiss to find some faults with the paper, the heiress’ need for perfection in school work positively legendary. However, the pale haired girl only raised an eyebrow at her statement before putting the rough draft into her own binder, a hint of a smile gracing her lips.

Not that Ruby noticed that last part. No, she was too busy being mortified as she realized what she had said.

God, was it even possible for her to be normal in front of Weiss Schnee?

Ruby sighed at that depressing thought, already knowing the answer. She steeled herself for the topic she would be bringing up, deciding it was now or never to talk to the girl.

“Listen, Weiss… about Friday night-” Ruby didn’t get to finish as Weiss pressed a slender finger to her lips, shushing her quietly while pointedly looking around the room with her eyes as if to remind Ruby exactly where they were.

"Might I suggest you not blurt out things you'd like kept secret in a room full of students?" Weiss murmured quietly so only the two of them could hear. “We’ll discuss things properly after class.” She said before pulling her hand back calmly, as if she hadn’t completely short-circuited Ruby with that one move.

Ruby barely heard what her lab partner had said; too busy trying to remember how to do a simple, everyday function like breathing. Because having air in her lungs was sort of important. And she was like, ninety-five percent sure she needed it to live.

Maybe ninety-seven…? That sounded about right.

But really, Weiss’ action had certainly caught the redhead by surprise. And now that she was slowly getting oxygen back into her bloodstream, Ruby finally took notice that they certainly weren’t alone in the room. Luckily, most of the students were too busy talking to their peers about what they did on the weekend to pay too much attention to them. A few eyebrows were raised, however. There would certainly be some rumors about them flying around, Ruby was sure. As the heiress to a multibillion Lien company, Weiss must have known that performing such an action would have garnered attention, especially with how high school students tended to be in regards to gossip. But Weiss didn’t even seem slightly bothered by the whispers that were now part of the background noise in the room.

If Ruby didn’t know any better…

She crushed the idea before it went further. The redhead knew what her chance with Weiss was and it certainly wasn’t high enough to even consider. Her life couldn’t possibly be as cliché as those superhero movies. There was just no way.

For now, she would just focus on talking to Weiss about her secret and forming some form of agreement that didn’t end with fleeing the country or being put under a microscope. Despite her best attempts at reassuring Yang over the weekend, Ruby had caught her older sister looking at plane tickets for some backwater town in Vacuo. Sometimes, she both admired and feared the lengths to which Yang would go for her.

 “Right,” Ruby finally managed to respond, her voice miraculously not cracking. “We can go to my place and talk about it there, if you want?” It seemed some form of higher power was looking after her if she could string together a sentence without messing up. Maybe there was hope for her after all.

 Weiss simply nodded before taking out a pencil to write with just as Professor Peach finally entered the room and called for her students to settle down.

“Good morning, class! I hope you all had a wonderful and productive weekend,” She greeted her class cheerfully while placing her bag on her desk. “Remember that your lab report papers are due this Wednesday. I hope you’re all working diligently on them seeing as how they’re ten percent of your final grade.” A few students shuffled nervously at the mention of their grades.

“Today we’ll be using the Bunsen burners for our class, so do keep in mind the proper safety procedures on how to use them. We wouldn’t want a repeat of… last year’s incident.”

Ruby ducked her head and used her bangs to cover her grin. Last year’s incident had involved a Bunsen burner, her sister, and the entire fire department being called in. Thankfully, nobody had been hurt and the school had re-opened only a day later. While her sister had gained almost legendary status throughout Beacon High, just the mention of Principal Goodwitch’s name still brought a shiver down Yang’s spine.

“Alright, now get together with your lab partners. The instructions on what we’ll be doing are on board. Make sure to ask me if there’s something you don’t understand,” Professor Peach called out as everyone started to get up to gather the equipment they would need.

Ruby chuckled quietly and stood up from her desk to help Weiss gather everything. She certainly wouldn’t let her sister live that incident down.

Honestly, Yang could be such a klutz at times.

* * *

“Hey Weiss, I finished heating up the unknown. What now?”

“Alright, now we just have to cool it after- wait, don’t put it in-!”

The sound of glass shattering suddenly filled the room, followed by a commotion of shock as the students caught sight of the shattered glass and blood.

 “Oh my god, is she bleeding?” Someone asked as they took in the scene.

“You dunce!” A panicked cry paired with concerned blue eyes. “Give me your hand; we have to stop the bleeding.”

 “I-It’s really not that bad Weiss-”

“Ruby just – shut up or so help me I’ll – Professor Peach!”

Suddenly there was a flurry of motion across the room as students parted for the professor who quickly took matters into her own hands. After last year’s incident, she could handle practically _anything_.

“Make sure to hold this down over her cut to stem the flow, Miss Schnee. Miss Rose, we have to wash your hand to make sure you didn’t get any of the liquid in your wound. Both of you follow me to the Nurse’s office. The rest of you, stop for now until I get back. Miss Nikos, please clean up the glass and make sure no other student gets near it.” Professor Peach nodded to her class helper before leading her two students out of the room.

Ruby ducked her head as they quickly followed Professor Peach into the hallway. Weiss pressed the cloth firmly against the cut on her palm to lessen the bleeding.

“I wish I could say I’m surprised by this,” Weiss sighed and glanced at Ruby before looking back down at her hand, cool fingertips cradling the redhead’s hand almost tenderly. “Next time, don’t put hot glass into an ice cold bath without letting it cool at room temperature first. You should know this by now.”

“Right… sorry about this,” Ruby muttered, unable to look Weiss in the eye. The cut on her hand stung painfully but having the heiress’ hands on hers certainly kept her distracted.

This was… not how she had imagined their first time holding hands would be like. Their (imaginary) first time would have been somewhere nice, maybe walking through a park and enjoying each other’s company? Or maybe at some fancy restaurant more to Weiss’ standards…?

Still, Ruby was (sort of) holding Weiss’ hand! She just had to ignore the bleeding part and it would count, right?

Besides, what sort of handholding didn’t have a little bit of blood spilling here or there?

…

…

 _…Pretty much all of them_ , Ruby admitted to herself.

Professor Peach sent her an amused look over her shoulder. “You aren’t the first person to get injured in that lab, Miss Rose, and you certainly won’t be the last. Why, it was thanks to your sister that we hold a monthly meeting for these scenarios.”

Ah.

Right.

Somehow, she just knew Yang would hold this one over her in retaliation for her previous teasing. At least she hadn’t burned anything and caused mass panic.

Ruby’s shoulders slumped.

Monday mornings were the worst. And she hadn’t even finished first period.


End file.
